Pirating the Pirates
The gist
A MUBI Notebook essay recounts fans rebuilding The Good.
It argues official restorations often alter films, so viewers turn to unofficial versions.
How it unfolded
- 2011In Vancouver, the author and then-roommate Willa Ross spent a weekend in Simon Fraser University editing suites combining three illegally ripped copies of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, then gave up for nearly a decade.
- July 2019After a disheartening screening of MGM's Dollars trilogy masters at a local cinematheque, the author and Willa resumed their cobbled-together cut with better raw materials.
- 2021Kino Lorber released The Good, the Bad and the Ugly on 4K UHD.